1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of dispense containers. More specifically, the present invention is directed to a unit dose dispense container for an activating catalyst for a heat curable impregnant.
2. Description of Related Art
The invention relates to a unit dose cartridge container for an ingredient to be mixed with a given quantity of a mixing component. A typical use for the present invention is as a storage and dispense cartridge for vazo catalyst. The vazo catalyst is typically dispensed into a 5 gallon carboy, having a 4 gallon fill, of heat cure impregnant. The combined mixture is then used for sealing porous metal or plastic parts.
Typically, the catalyst is added to the impregnant at the manufacturing facility where the mixture is also then applied. Current methods for mixing the catalyst with the impregnant involve manually scooping an amount of vazo paste from a wide mouth liter container. Once the vazo has been added to the 5 gallon carboy, the carboy is closed and then shaken until the vazo mixes in with the impregnant.
A liter container of vazo catalyst, however, includes about one kilogram of vazo catalyst which can catalyze about 7.6 carboys of heat cure impregnant. As the carboy of heat cure impregnant typically has a smaller opening than the vazo container, a certain amount of vazo scooping and scraping is required to complete the transfer. Furthermore, the measuring tools used by each operator may vary so that such mixing methods elude precise dispensement of the ideal amount of catalyst for a carboy of impregnant. As a result, the catalyzation rate for each carboy of mixture may vary from operator to operator. Such variances resulting from the imprecise apportioning of the vazo thereby inhibit precise quality control of the applied mixture.
These known methods for dispensing the vazo catalyst also pose risks for personnel and the environment. For example, manually scooping the vazo may expose an operator to the vazo paste itself, which is an irritant. Also, as the liter container does not provide vazo for an even number of carboys, and as the scooping method does not provide for precise measurement of the amount of vazo scooped, it is very possible that a discarded liter container may still contain some amounts of vazo therein which may then accumulate at a landfill.
It is known in the art that the vazo catalyst may be mixed with the impregnant prior to shipping, but the mixture must then be shipped refrigerated to maintain its viability. As the two ingredients may need to shipped to various facilities remote from the site of manufacture of the components, the increased costs for refrigerated shipping of the mixture make this method unacceptably expensive.
It is therefore desirable to provide a transportation and dispense cartridge for vazo catalyst which reduces or eliminates risks to personnel and the environment and which provides higher assurance of precise catalyst dispensement into a carboy of heat cure impregnant.
The present invention provides a unit dose storage and dispenser cartridge for a unit dose of an ingredient includes a storage and dispense container dispensably containing a unit dose of the ingredient. The container includes a cylindrical interior wall defining a cartridge passageway having an ingredient-containing ingredient storage cavity portion. The container further defines a dispense opening communicating with the ingredient storage cavity portion and includes a first sealing member removably sealing the dispense opening. A dispense piston is movable by a dasher rod through the ingredient storage cavity portion so as to dispense the unit dose of the ingredient through the dispense opening. An openable vent is positioned in registry with the cartridge passageway. It is contemplated that the a dasher rod may be provided for each cartridge or that a single dasher rod may be provided for a given number of cartridges. It is further contemplated that the present invention may be provided in kit form.
The present invention will be more readily appreciated in a reading of the xe2x80x9cDetailed Description of the Inventionxe2x80x9d with reference to the following drawings.